Is complexity killing your sales model?

How to build a repeatable, high-return sales model

for business-to-business markets
By Dianne Ledingham, Mark Kovac, Michael Heric
and Franois Montaville

Dianne Ledingham is a Bain & Company partner based in Boston and a leader
in the firms Customer Strategy & Marketing practice. Mark Kovac is a Bain
partner in Dallas. Michael Heric is a Bain partner in New York. Franois
Montaville is a Bain partner in Paris.

Copyright 2013 Bain & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

Is complexity killing your sales model?

For decades, scale economies ran like clockwork in the

online. Then, in the vendor selection stage, total

world of sales. Companies in business-to-business (B2B)

cost of ownership and return on investment trump

markets consistently grew their revenues faster than

relationships. Purchase decisions that were previously

their sales and marketing expenses. But for nearly 12 years,

controlled by one manager now involve a web of

that trend has stalled and in some cases reversed. The

stakeholders. As a result of these shifts, the day of

sales models for many large companies have become

the pure generalist relationship manager is over.

more complex and less efficient, putting pressure on

profit margins.

Customers are less loyal because theyre wary of being

locked into a vendors products. Customer loyalty has

How big is the problem? Bain & Company analyzed the

become increasingly important to a suppliers long-

20032011 income statements of roughly 200 large

term health. Sales performance thus depends on

US-based companies in healthcare, technology and finan-

the ability to retain high-value customers, to up-sell

cial services. More than half of these companies had

at the point of sale and to expand the customer

increasing sales and marketing expenses as a percentage

relationship through cross-selling.

of revenues over the period, or they failed to demon-

In turn, these shifts in demand have caused companies

strate the scale benefits that one would expect from

their growing size.

to dramatically change what they sell. First, offerings

In our experience, a few key factors account for this

folios, with the products ranging from cutting-edge to

reversal, starting with how the shape of demand has

mature. Second, product-based sales have been supple-

changed in many industries:

mented or replaced by sales of solutions that knit together

have shifted from single-product to multi-product port-

disparate products or services into an integrated offering.

Customer needs have grown more sophisticated.

Finally, transactional selling based on knowledge of

Buyers increasingly demand a tailored solution

product features, functionality and cost has become less

anchored in expertise about their industry or a specific

relevant than consultative selling thats tailored to the

function. In software and business process out-

customers industry or business situation and must meet

sourcing, for instance, spending on vertical industry

a customers threshold for return on investment.

offerings will grow twice as fast as general enterprise

software spending through 2015, Gartner estimates.

Many companies current sales models

have been plagued with a creeping
complexity and are not keeping pace
with shifts in customer priorities.

Customers expect providers to help solve their

business problems and measure value based on
outcomes, not necessarily the lowest price. Medical
device firms that previously sold stents and defibrillators now are being asked by customers to improve
patients health outcomes. Sellers of oil and gas are
being asked to reduce customers energy footprint.

Customers have become more experienced with

Simply put, most current sales models are not keeping

competitive, disciplined bid processes. Buyers can

pace with the shifts in demand, as many companies

readily gather basic information about products

struggle with factors that contribute to higher costs.

Is complexity killing your sales model?

Account managers may realize too late that they need

focused to some degree on key accounts, with a crisp

additional expertise, and they frantically call specialists

pitch on features and functionality. Today, whats required

to join a sales effort at the last minute. In other cases,

is assembling the right team of experts with relevant

companies deploy specialists before thorough qualifica-

solution knowledge at the right time (no more, no less)

tion of a prospect, or to help with contract negotiations.

in the sales cycle. In the face of new demand character-

Each situation results in overused, misapplied sales

istics, successful sales organizations will provide a tailored

resources or missed business opportunities. Companies

experience for the customer, but through an efficient,

also are finding they have loaded up on variants of

scalable model.

solutions, sales teams and sales coveragea creeping

complexity that raises costs and ironically can stifle the
growth that an expanded offering set is intended to provide.

Credibility is essential for selling solutions,

and that puts a premium on people who
possess targeted expertise or proficiency
in consultative sales.

Achieving growth targets profitably requires a repeatable,

high-return model for selling solutions. And that means
knowing where and how to invest in sales resources.
Bain recently surveyed senior sales and marketing
executives in 24 B2B companies, and found that 15%
more high-performing companies than low-performing
companies had built a differentiated capability to deploy

Some complexity is unavoidable, of course, yet poorly

their selling resources to the highest-value market

managed complexity can erode customer confidence.

opportunities. (Performance was measured by customer

We recently sat in on a technology providers sales call

loyalty scores relative to competitors and five-year relative

with the CIO of a prospective customer, during which

market share trends.)

several product engineering specialists debated how to

configure a solution. Prior to the key meeting, no one

For some leading companies that have started to overhaul

had led a process to sort out the different expert points

their sales models, the upside is equally dramatic, setting

of view so that the supplier could present a coherent case.

them up to once again grow revenues faster than expenses.

The CIO was not impressed.

Thats especially valuable for companies operating in

the current low-growth economies of many developed

In this evolving environment, the skills of the account

countries. By contrast, companies that do little to rethink

manager need substantial upgrading. Theres still a

their model will be saddled with a larger, cumbersome sales

need for some oversight skills, but even senior customer

organization that not only erodes margins, but worse, misses

relationship executives (CREs) now are expected to be

the biggest opportunities with high-value customers.

experts in some of their companys offerings. That helps

limit the cost of an expanding specialist bench and

The center of gravity moves from generalist

to specialist

secure the CREs credibility with customers.

Credibility, in particular, is an essential quality for

For much of the 20th century, when companies had a

selling solutions or consultative offerings. At most

series of individual product lines, their sales model could

large B2B companies, no single person can credibly

thrive as long as they had the right account coverage,

sell the full portfolio. Sales organizations need to

Is complexity killing your sales model?

bring on board people with targeted expertise or new

offerings than competitors did. Businesses in these micro-

types of skills, including proficiency in consultative

verticals have processes that are critical for success in

sales. The skill gap rarely can be closed through train-

their focused market, such as shelf-life management in

ing alone; new people inevitably need to be hired.

organic farming and nurse scheduling in hospitals. Infor

When B2B companies undertake a sales model trans-

tailors its solutions for the micro-verticals, bringing to

formation from single-product to multi-product or solution

bear its expertise in the specific processes. By identifying

sales, they typically experience a 40% to 60% turnover

standard building blocks of functionality that can be

of generalists, or individual product sellers, over two

readily adapted for different geographies or micro-

to three years.

verticals, Infor has created a repeatable process.

Building a new sales regime

For example, process software for a brewer in Germany

can be applied with only slight customization to a juice

Restructuring a sales model for these new realities does

maker in the US or a soda maker in Mexico. This creates

require substantial effort and timebut its no longer

a lot of value, because customers dont have to build and

optional. And the transformation will not happen over-

integrate a solution themselves, customize a generic

night, though it can be designed to rapidly stage the

offering or settle for a substandard alternative. One

change. In our experience, four mutually reinforcing

specialist in liquid processes can sell to all three types

actions can help senior executives keep on track with

of customer, in combination with a generalist in each

greater certainty and pace.

country who understands the regional issues involved.

Over time, Infor develops the in-country capacity to support

1. Identify customer sweet spots and define the

appropriate offering, then put a repeatable process

demand through direct, indirect or telesales support.

in place to expand to other segments.

This scalable approach to segment expansion has allowed

Infor to increase its market share in sweet-spot segments

Leading sales organizations figure out exactly which

and win more business with larger enterprises.

products and solutions they should sell to which core

customers and how to adapt the offerings efficiently for

An effective way to identify sweet spots for target seg-

other customer segments. They devise a repeatable model

ments is to map the potential choices along a spectrum of

that can be applied to existing customers with new

solution types, each of which can influence the go-to-market

products, or to sell existing products to adjacent segments

model (see

such as other industries or geographies.

Figure 1). The exercise involves defining

the nature of the solution, the target decision maker,

the sales cycle and the implementation team required.

Suppliers can identify the sweet spots for investment by

using two criteria: segments with the most attractive

At the far left of the spectrum is a single-product or

lifetime economics and those where a companys distinc-

multi-product line, no longer positioned as feature or

tive offerings win consistently.

functionality, but as an answer to a business problem

for example, a computer sold to manage the customers

Infor, a US-based firm that sells software solutions mostly

asset base. The problem is typically well understood, and

to small businesses, exemplifies this approach. Infor

the solution and deployment are clear. Next are multi-

identified roughly 2,000 micro-verticals, such as brewers

product or service solutions that may require some

and hospitals, where it had more specific and relevant

Is complexity killing your sales model?

Figure 1: The spectrum of solutions archetypes (technology provider example)

Prepackaged

Description

Decision maker
Sales cycle

Sales,
support
and
delivery

Scale-up

Innovation-driven

Transformational

Provide standardized
solution that addresses
well-understood problems
Small single-line, perhaps
multi-line solutions

Provide semi-standardized
solutions in a modular,
scalable way
Small or midsize, multi-line
or single-line solutions

Create business/competitive
advantage through technology
Multi-line solutions targeted
at specific business issues
May or may not have unique
industry requirements

Promote step change in

business and function
effectiveness and efficiency
Large, global, multi-line solutions
Unique industry or
company requirements

Director level or below

Enterprise or divisional
leader or mid-level executive

Business unit heads

CEO, CXO,
business unit heads

13 months

13 months or more

39 months

6 months to years

Direct team, channel- or

Web-based selling teams
Small but iterative
implementation team
for knowledge transfer
If specialists required,
temporary or reduced
to lower steady state
after learning period

Direct team, channel- or

Web-based selling teams
for scalable trials
Tight integration with delivery
team, focus on expanding
share of wallet and
deepening the relationship

Vertical- or domain-based
solution team for configuration,
selling and partnering with
account manager
Tight integration with
delivery team
Moderate resources during
implementation

Focused consulting team

led by solution experts
and account team support
Tight integration with
delivery team
Significant expertise during
implementation

More consultative skills, diverse expertise

Source: Bain & Company

tuning to a specific situation, but can be scaled up and

or rural. That allowed the directory company to sort its

repeated across a large group of salespeople, with some

customers by their development potential, and then

specialization. These are the foundations of building a

select the appropriate mix of channels and the right sales

high-volume, scalable solution business.

offering for each segment.

At the far right, transformational solutions can lead to

Another way to glean or refine your sweet spot is to

significant brand equity and customer loyalty, but take

listen closely to customer feedback. Thats exactly what

longer to sell and require more integration with the

Hess did in its energy marketing business in the US.

delivery team. These are often larger deals that have less

As energy deregulation continues and customers increas-

scalability and a more complicated sales process than

ingly want help managing their energy consumption,

pre-packaged solutions.

Hess decided to expand its solutions and further differentiate its offerings. It recently began to adapt its go-to-

At any point along the spectrum, smarter segmentation

market approach. Hess added a new group of specialists

benefits B2B companies. For a European directory

to help customers focus on better management of their

company, better segmentation came from taking its

entire energy system, including economical sourcing

database of invoiced revenue from customers, layering

for oil, gas or electricity from Hess. Formal customer

on customers total advertising spending and modeling

research combined with informal feedback during the

the handful of characteristics that explained buying

sales process allowed Hess to identify customers that

behavior. These turned out to be type of business, size

put a high value on the companys market insights.

and the degree to which customer locations were urban

4

Is complexity killing your sales model?

The company now tailors the frequency and type of

Whether hunting or mining, its critical to get the mix

interaction by segment. For instance, customers that

and sequence of specialists right. Too few may jeopardize

use Hesss market insights on energy commodities

a sale because theres no expert available to cover an area

receive regular electronic publications. Customers

the customer considers crucial. Too many may make the

showing the greatest demand for Hesss full portfolio

cost of the sales effort uneconomic relative to the revenues

of offeringsand that have the greatest potential life-

accrued. (See the sidebar on page 6, Whats a specialist

time valuereceive more frequent, in-person visits.

worth? Heres how to calculate the economics.)

2. Get the right people and channelno more, no less

A CRE typically will be on point to find the right special-

in front of the customer at the right time.

ists who possess solid knowledge of the targets business

problems, and bring them into the sales effort when

Its not enough to upgrade the salesforce by hiring people

their participation will be most effective. The CRE also

with the skills and capabilities to sell solutions to target

should orchestrate effective teaming. Like musicians who

industries. Companies also find they must restructure

seamlessly improvise back and forth after theyve played

their coverage model, which means defining and syn-

together several times, salespeople who get to know and

chronizing sales roles differently. There are several key

trust one another tend to sell together more effectively.

coverage questions to address, including how much

hunting vs. mining capacity to employ; what the role

Theres another imperative for teaming. Some special

of sales specialists should be; whether to use one or

areas of knowledge need to become common knowledge

multiple salesforces to serve a segment; and whether

over time in order to improve the economics of the selling

to use one or multiple sales teams to serve a customer

model. Investment in specialists thus should be perish-

across different geographies.

able as a solution moves through its life cycle: Deploy

specialists early in the cycle to gain a foothold, and expand

When to hunt for new customers and when to mine

to build expertise ahead of the competition. Once sales

deeper within current customers is one of the basic

increase, make sure the CRE learns the basics from the

coverage choices that needs to be made explicit. CREs

specialists in order to independently generate and qualify

often get comfortable serving their current customers,

leads. When sales have ramped up sufficiently, reserve

so an obvious initial step is to charge them with becom-

use of specialists only for the biggest, most complex

ing more aggressive about mining the largest customers

deals, and redeploy them to other potential high-growth

to their full potential. At the same time, however, theres

areas that are at the early stage of the cycle (see Figure 2).

limited growth over the long term from relying too heavily

AutoTrader, a US media and software solutions provider

on existing customers.

to automotive dealers, confronted a complex portfolio

Thats why an effective coverage model needs to be

and myriad go-to-market organizations after making

deliberate about who should be hunting and where.

four acquisitions in two years. It wanted to integrate

Field sales managers should meet regularly with hunting

these disparate sales models without disrupting customer

sales representatives to understand and actively refine

relationships, and in a way that would encourage more

their target prospects and break-in plan. Given the degree

cross-selling and up-selling.

of difficulty and the strategic value of adding a new target

customer, sellers should receive a compensation premium

To get the balance of hunting and mining right, Auto-

for breaking into new accounts.

Trader designed a new segmentation scheme of acquire,

5

Is complexity killing your sales model?

Whats a specialist worth? Heres how to calculate the economics

How do you know whether you have too many or too few specialists, and whether theyre deployed
in the right places? Combining several types of analyses can produce a reliable picture of where it
makes economic sense to add and where to cut back.
At the highest level, the task first involves estimating the full system cost of hiring, training, compensating
and integrating each specialist into the organization, and weighing the cost against the specialists
valuethe amount of profitable revenue you would not get without that specialist. This can be done
through a regression tool called a counterfactual analysis. We ran a regression for one distributor to
determine what all major accounts would have generated in sales and profit over the previous year
if they did not have specialist support, compared with what they actually generated. Because some
accounts had intense specialist involvement while others had little or none, we were able to isolate
the variables related to specialists.
We found that specialists contributed a gross profit of $236 million at a compensation cost of $20 million,
for a net contribution of $216 million or a return on investment (ROI) of more than 1,000%. Figuring
in that the additional costs of hiring, training and integration would lower the ROI, the profits would
still be quite attractive.
The real payoff comes from improving the ROI. To that end, we determined the optimal number of
specialists for a given territory, product or other category (see the figure below). Examining the relationship between specialists spanning across accounts and account manager performance allowed
us to see how many account managers a specialist can successfully support, and how to improve
assignments across territories and products.
Further productivity gains come from identifying the factors that have a pronounced effect on account
performance. These range from an account managers tenure and number of accounts, to a specialists
tenure or certifications, to the attributes of assigned territories.
Determine the optimal number of specialists
Company-wide...

by territory...

Cumulative specialist category gross profit

Only add specialists
if they pay
for themselves

$500M

or by offering...

Average specialist category gross profit

per account manager

Average gross profit for Solution A

per account manager

$70M

$70K

Specialists are
spread thin

.5
Specialists per account manager

0
0

.5
Specialists per account manager

Source: Bain & Company

.1
Specialists per account manager

Is complexity killing your sales model?

Figure 2:

Specialists should be perishable over the product or solution life cycle

Specialist deployment on sales effort

Time
Invest to accelerate growth

Maintain investment and leadership position

Redeploy to new high-growth areas

Pilot specialist investment to gain a foothold

If successful, invest to build product and
domain expertise ahead of competition
Account owners use specialists heavily while
they learn the product or solution

Transfer product capability across organization

Train broad set on sales support
Train account owners to generate and
qualify leads
Continue to provide sales support
(such as demonstrations)

Continue investment for maintenance stream

as required (upgrades, support)
Account owners maintain relationship and move
client to next-generation products if possible
Redeploy specialists and support to other
high-growth products

Source: Bain & Company

develop or retain based on a dealers size and the companys

Small dealers are getting better service, so theres less

current share of the dealers spending. Now, rather than

defection among them. The cross-selling pipeline is

spreading sales resources evenly across accounts in a

growing, account planning across the generalists and

territory, resources line up better with high-potential

specialists is working well, and accountability for acquire

accounts in the three segments. Smaller dealers were

customers is being sharpened to raise acquisition rates.

moved to an inside sales and service center. Territories

were rebuilt so field sales reps could spend their time

Another key coverage decision involves whether to deploy

on accounts with the greatest retention, up-sell and

a single salesforce selling all offerings to all customers

cross-sell opportunities.

or multiple teams focused on the same customers

within a segment. This will depend on the degree of

To boost productivity, AutoTrader realigned the specialist

buyer overlap within the customer, as well as the com-

roles for some mature products and began to move

plexity of the companys offering (see

Figure 3).

administrative functions from the generalist account

managers to the inside service team so that they could

Consider one salesforce covering different customer

generate leads across a broader portfolio. At the same

segments. VWR International, a global laboratory supplier

time, the company added specialist roles for complemen-

and distributor, decided to intensify sales efforts on faster-

tary products in the software portfolio such as CRM.

growing segments such as life sciences, education and

medical research. VWR also wanted to meet growing

As the new sales model is being rolled out across 23

demand for customized capabilities. The company

regions in the US, early results appear promising.

reorganized sales and marketing around four customer

7

Is complexity killing your sales model?

Figure 3: Sales coverage decisions depend on the degree of product complexity and buyer overlap
Different buyers within or across divisions

Same buyers

One or multiple salesforces

One salesforce

Simple,
unrelated
products

May be economical to maintain two separate salesforces

depending on current productivity per representative

Simple,
related
products

Travel time for sales calls less than training time for product:
Aim to converge salesforce around accounts

Complex,
unrelated
products

Training time for second product too expensive and not

credible to sell both
Incentive for referrals and introductions to peer salesforce

One salesforce

One salesforce
Converge salesforce capability and aim to cross-sell

One or multiple salesforces

Multiple salesforces

Multiple salesforces
Complex,
related
products

Converge salesforce capability and aim to cross-sell

Assess training cost for cross-sell and effect on credibility of salesforce

Likely need to maintain two salesforces
Define account owner/manager model based on sales
volume and which product demands higher mindshare
Incentive for cross-sell and referrals
One salesforce with teaming

Anticipate buyer conversion over time

Assess feasibility of single salesforce
Introduce and ultimately phase out overlap representative
for finite period of time, to jump-start new or smaller,
high-potential product sales
Incentive for referrals while maintaining two salesforces

Create single selling team, with a customer relationship

executive who engages specialists
Specialists used for early years of product and then
phased out
Multi-contact team needs incentive for referrals and total
client revenue

Source: Bain & Company

segments, each with different needs and behaviors, and

and that each required extensive special knowledge.

created clear boundaries between the four dedicated

Instead, the most effective synergy arose from having

teams and territories.

the sales teams share their intelligence about the organization and its decision-making process across the

Each current and potential customer maps to one segment,

salesforces informally.

to ensure clear account ownership. Field account executives, specialists, inside sales and customer support

Managing coverage across multiple geographies presents

teams also map to one segment, with a supporting

its own set of issues. In many cases, geographically

generalist pool to serve small, opportunistic customers.

focused sales teams for the same global customer is the

The executive leading each segment team gets measured

most effective structure to maintain local accountability

based on a segment-level P&L. Since implementing

and capitalize on regional buying preferences. Typically,

these changes, VWR has accelerated its revenue growth

however, the largest or highest-potential accounts warrant

above the overall market.

global coordination. A global account manager or even

a global account team may be necessary to ensure that

Sometimes, a company should use two salesforces to

the company encourages allies within the customer to

reach different buyers within the same customer. For

promote the company across regions and that the sales

instance, one industrial company offers outsourcing

efforts focus on the right offerings for the region.

services to manufacturing plant operators and other

services to CFOs. The company explored combining

Global coordination does not come naturally, so the

sales efforts, but found that the offerings were too distinct

business needs to orchestrate explicit decision roles and

8

Is complexity killing your sales model?

processes around pricing, post-sales support and resource

rather than falling back on traditional measures such as

allocation. One technology provider clarified roles in

last year plus 10%, which will likely be too large or

decision making around quotas for the most valuable

too small an increase.

global accounts (see Figure 4). This liberated the energy

that had previously been consumed on cross-regional

One food company, for instance, was realizing lower

resource negotiations, and it improved information

prices than its competitors in part because salespeople

sharing and account planning.

were measured strictly by their sales volume, with a bonus

for their tenure. By changing the performance metric to

3. Design compensation to promote behaviors that

give equal weight to volume and maximizing price, the

support your business goals.

company moved prices in two years from being slightly

below market to almost 2% above. That move alone

To raise productivity and control costs, its essential that

yielded a $50 million increase in pre-tax earnings.

everyone in the sales organization focus on attaining

well-defined business goals and growth targets. The

A compensation system should be flexible enough to

compensation system should be designed in a way that

reward excellent performance yet simple enough to be

directs people to deliver on specific goals, whether that

well understood and elicit the desired behaviors. The

is penetrating new markets, winning new customers,

former can be done by increasing the range of compensa-

cross-selling to existing customers or improving the

tion target earnings between top and bottom performers;

profitability of each deal through higher pricing. Incen-

the latter by ensuring that the architecture of the com-

tives should motivate individuals to reach these goals

pensation system is not overly complex.

Figure 4: Coordinating roles for global accounts (example: account growth plan for existing regions)

Develop local
account plans

Incorporate input
from center

Decide
global plan

CEO
Management
and strategic
operations

Execute plan
in key segments

Agree

Head of Sales & Marketing

Input

Head of Vendor Sales

Input

Agree

Global
account
managers

Head of Global Accounts

Decide

Head of Global Account A

Recommend

Client
segment
and region

Client Head of Region A, B and so on

Input

Perform

Head of Product A, B and so on

Input

Perform

Roles in the RAPID decision-making model

Recommend
a decision or action

Formally Agree
to a recommendation

Perform
a decision once made

Source: Bain & Company

RAPID is a registered trademark of Bain & Company, Inc.

Provide Input
to a recommendation

Decide to commit
the organization to action

Is complexity killing your sales model?

specific deals where they were involved but also on

the total territory performance of their specialty area,

Sales organizations often see a sustained

boost in performance by expanding
the compensation range between star
performers and poor performers.

including deals that the CREs are able to handle

themselves. This gives specialists an incentive to
teach others to qualify and sell to potential customers.

Encourage cross-selling. Several factors often crop

up that stymie cross-selling, such as the need for
additional expertise and the hesitation to pursue

An industrial services company, for example, was looking

smaller deals. Sales leaders counter these factors

to improve salesforce productivity. Over the years, it had

through special offer pricing, bundling or dedicating

added many variations to its compensation system, which

some of the compensation pool to strategic products.

clouded any relationship between higher compensation

and productivity. By greatly simplifying the compensation

much easier to sell to existing customers than to

scheme, and focusing people on high-value segments

new ones when learning new buying processes and

with targeted offerings, the company was able to raise sales

needs. You dont want sellers to be indifferent about

rep productivity more than 18% over a two-year period.

which route to pursue, so they should be more

handsomely rewarded for a new account.

Several other tactics should be part of any simplified

compensation scheme:

4. Equip the back office to allow sales representatives

to spend more time selling.

Reward star performers. Sales leaders often see a

sustained boost in sales by expanding the compen-

Many solutions providers have a secret weaponthe

sation range between star performers and poor

back office, which can take on most of the lead qualifi-

performers. One healthcare company decided to

cation, proposal development, pricing approval, contract

reduce the base pay component and increase com-

management and billing managementadding back

missions for the salesforce working with hospitals

20% to 30% of potentially more productive time to a

and nursing homes, and to redistribute more of

sales representatives day.

the pie toward top performers. At the same time,

it developed a mentorship program for stars to train

Making sure billing errors get fixed, for instance, con-

and coach new sales representatives. Over the course

sumes a lot of time for some reps who want to protect

of two years, average compensation for stars rose

their customers loyalty. With a concerted effort, a

18% while it declined 11% for poor performers, who

company can apply serious process improvement to the

were counseled out of the firm. In a key target

billing unit, hire select skilled analysts and look to attain

segment, sales doubled while expenses went from

a zero-defect operation.

33% to 25%.

Encourage sales to new customers. Typically its

The back office can also provide post-sale solutions

Promote teaming. The structure of compensation

support. To be sure, diagnosing customers problems,

can promote knowledge transfer from specialists

and triaging requests from multiple customers, requires

to the CREs, by rewarding specialists not only on

coordination across several divisions of a supplier.

10

Is complexity killing your sales model?

Further, devising a mechanism to arbitrate the support

Coverage changes should be pursued only with a zero-

costs and revenues is not a trivial exercise. But the effort

defect account transition process to maintain smooth

may be worthwhile because theres a big return for getting

customer relationships. Compensation changes should

it right and liberating the sales team from troubleshooting.

be preceded by careful modeling and consideration of

Telephone support costs less, and the outside reps can

unintended consequences, so as not to completely distract

still maintain contact with customers for other concerns

the sales organization and depress sales. Thats why

and opportunities to expand the relationship.

transformation typically takes a couple of years, during

which the original design will itself require adjustment

Along with liberating time for reps, sales leaders should

based on pilot tests and customer feedback.

ensure that the new capacity becomes productive time,

not personal time. Raising sales quotas and simulta-

Growing multi-product and solutions businesses over

neously introducing a more systematic review of account

a sustained period will not happen by tweaking the

planning and territory strategies are two ways to capture

sales model around the edges, but rather by addressing

the potential value in the new capacity.

complexity in a comprehensive fashion. Sales organizations need to develop simpler, disciplined sales models

Staging the new model

that can work in one segment after another. The four

measures described here will serve to guide sales leaders

After a simpler, scalable sales model has been designed,

toward that end, positioning them to generate profitable

practical considerations require staging the transfor-

growth while capitalizing on the changing nature of

mation rather than changing all the elements at once.

customer demands.

11

Is complexity killing your sales model?

Key contacts in Bains Customer Strategy & Marketing practice:

Americas:

Dianne Ledingham in Boston ([email protected])

Michael Heric in New York ([email protected])
Mark Kovac in Dallas ([email protected])

Europe, Middle
East and Africa:

Franois Montaville in Paris ([email protected])

Bertrand Pointeau in Paris ([email protected])
Oliver Straehle in Zurich ([email protected])

Asia-Pacific:

Melanie Sanders in Sydney ([email protected])

12

Shared Ambition, True Results

Bain & Company is the management consulting firm that the worlds business leaders come
to when they want results.
Bain advises clients on strategy, operations, technology, organization, private equity and mergers and acquisitions.
We develop practical, customized insights that clients act on and transfer skills that make change stick. Founded
in 1973, Bain has 48 offices in 31 countries, and our deep expertise and client roster cross every industry and
economic sector. Our clients have outperformed the stock market 4 to 1.

What sets us apart

We believe a consulting firm should be more than an adviser. So we put ourselves in our clients shoes, selling
outcomes, not projects. We align our incentives with our clients by linking our fees to their results and collaborate
to unlock the full potential of their business. Our Results Delivery process builds our clients capabilities, and
our True North values mean we do the right thing for our clients, people and communitiesalways.

For more information, visit www.bain.com